Online Islamophobic abuse targeting Sadiq Khan more than doubled last year, figures suggest
25 March 2025, 19:29 | Updated: 25 March 2025, 20:00
Online Islamophobic abuse targeting the Mayor of London more than doubled over the course of 2024, new figures suggest.
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The data, compiled by analysis from the Greater London Authority (GLA), showed that 2024 was the second worst year for Islamophobic posts about Khan since 2015 - the year before he came to power.
Most of the abusive content came from X - a whopping 89%.
Almost 28,000 posts about Khan included an Islamophobic phrase or a slur, suggesting that the mayor is still the target of much racist abuse.
The London mayor, one of the most high-profile Muslim politicians in the country, is concerned that the Islamophobia he faces is putting people from ethnic minorities off getting involved in politics, sources close to him said.
Analysis found 27,830 cases of Islamophobic abuse last year, compared to 12,173 in 2023.
That number is surpassed only by the 41,871 examples found in 2019, when Donald Trump described him on Twitter as "a disaster" and "a national disgrace".
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But the GLA fears the actual number might be way higher, as the research does not include private groups and only looks at posts where Sir Sadiq was mentioned directly.
A source close to Sir Sadiq said: "The Mayor is extremely concerned about the impact of hateful and abusive content online. This kind of content can have devastating real-life consequences, and it's a problem which is getting worse not better.
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"The Mayor is concerned that his treatment is discouraging young minority Brits from getting involved in politics or public life, meaning we're losing a lot of talent.
"It could be having a chilling effect on ethnic minorities putting their head above the parapet."
The GLA analysis found 124,390 Islamophobic mentions of Sir Sadiq since 2015, the year before he was elected Mayor of London for the first time.
Of these, almost 90% came from X. Khan has recently criticised X’s owner, Elon Musk, for making online abuse on the platform worse.
The source added: "The Mayor is calling for both more action from social media companies to protect their users and stronger regulation from governments to ensure they fulfil their responsibilities."
A little more than half of the posts since 2015 originated from outside the UK, but most of the abuse directed at Khan in 2024 came from within the UK and coincided with an election year for the mayoralty.
That year also saw now-Reform MP Lee Anderson suspended from the Conservative Party after he claimed Sir Sadiq was controlled by "Islamists".
The GLA analysis went on to say 2025 was already "on course to be another notable year" for Islamophobic abuse of the Mayor, with more than 2,000 examples recorded in the first two months of the year.
